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Cushion Stars
Plate 1 of 8. (c) John Eichler, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by John Eichler · via iNaturalist

Cushion Stars

Parvulastra

Parvulastra is a genus of starfish belonging to the family Asterinidae. The species of this genus are found in Southern Hemisphere.

The genus shows an unusual reproductive mode within Asterinidae: Parvulastra parvivipara and Parvulastra vivipara are viviparous. Prior to their description as distinct species, they were considered variants of Parvulastra exigua, which has free-living (but non-feeding) larvae.

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5 branches of this genus, most-observed first

Dwarf Cushion Star

speciesParvulastra exigua

Granular Cushionstar

speciesParvulastra dyscrita

Tasmanian Live-bearing Sea Star

speciesParvulastra vivipara

South Australian Live-bearing Sea Star

speciesParvulastra parvivipara

Parvulastra calcarata

speciesParvulastra calcarata

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Where it lives

Recorded sightings

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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.

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Every page naming Parvulastra in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →

This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 348892.